How to Grow Vegetables Near Eucalyptus Shade

Eucalyptus tree shade makes vegetable gardening a challenge.

For gardeners with small yards and big trees, vegetable growing is something of a challenge. If the tree in question is in the Eucalyptus family, the challenge is even greater, because the leaves are evergreen, providing year-found shade, and they shed copious amounts of leaves and bark peelings that are toxic to some plants. To get around these challenges, grow sturdy edible perennial vegetables under the canopy, and use containers or raised beds in the sunniest spaces near the tree.

1

Remove or prune some of the eucalyptus' branches, if possible. Opening up the tree even slightly can bring a surprising amount of light to plants growing under or just beyond the tree.

2

Plant shade-tolerant, perennial vegetables under the outer canopy of the eucalyptus. Bamboo, New Zealand spinach and daylilies, all which have edible plant parts, tolerate the tree's leaf litter and dry, partial shade.

3

Set raised beds or containers for annual vegetables as far outside the tree's canopy as possible. These growing systems prevent competition between vegetable roots and tree roots. In addition, by eliminating the need to dig into the soil, you won't have to worry that alleopathins from decayed leaf litter will harm your vegetable crops.

4

Fill containers and raised beds with top soil or potting soil and compost.

6

Mulch the annual vegetables to conserve water, suppress weeds and form a barrier between the soil and the eucalyptus leaf litter.

7

Water annual vegetables frequently. Even in the shade, raised beds and containers dry out more quickly than traditional garden beds. Check the soil at least once a day.

8

Handpick leaf and bark litter from vegetable beds, or use a leaf blower. This not only cuts down on the risk of eucalyptus allelopathins from harming the vegetables, but prevents the litter from crushing or smothering smaller vegetables.

Tip

Set containers or raised beds as far from the deepest shade of the tree as possible. Eucalyptus trees are broad-leaved evergreens, which means that you can't take advantage of leafless periods to grow early spring vegetables in full sun, as some gardeners do with deciduous trees.

Warnings

If you are planting a new eucalyptus tree, check with your local and state extension services to determine which varieties may be considered invasive or dangerous to native plants. The red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) trees, for example, are listed on the California Invasive Plant Inventory Database. A better choice is Eucalyptus cinerea, the silver dollar tree, which is less invasive and is more compact that other eucalyptus trees.

Most of the edible bamboos are also running types, meaning that they may spread further than you intend. Keep them in check with rhizome barriers from the garden center.